1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of providing multicast services to customers by using a virtual private local area network service (VPLS) group management system for managing multicast customers in a virtual private local area network (LAN) service.
2. Description of the Related Art
A virtual private local area network service (VPLS) is a virtual private network service that can provide multipoint services to customers through a domain in which a network provided by a service provider is connected with a single huge bridge. The VPLS services allows a plurality of geographically dispersed sites to operate as if they were connected to one Ethernet local area network (LAN), thereby establishing a VPLS network which operates as if the entire VPLS network is a huge L2 switch.
If an Ethernet frame is received by a provider edge (PE) of a provider network, it is examined whether or not forwarding information related to the destination media access control (MAC) address of the received Ethernet frame is registered in the VPLS table of the PE, and if it is not registered, a MAC flooding and running process is performed, thereby updating the VPLS table. The received Ethernet frame is forwarded using the updated information.
Since this VPLS service provides a multipoint connection, the service provider can provide a multicast service to a customer by establishing only a VPLS network.
However, since the VPLS table is managed only by referring to an Ethernet frame at layer 2, an Internet protocol (IP) packet using an Internet group management protocol (IGMP) at layer 3 cannot be processed. Accordingly, multicast traffic is transmitted even to unauthorized customers.